Roanoke (VA) Egg Shoot This Weekend

Here’s a great opportunity to have some fun with your varmint or benchrest rifle. The 2009 Roanoke Egg Shoot will be held Saturday, May 2nd, at the Roanoke (VA) Rifle & Revolver Club. Entry Fee is just $20 per gun, and all types of rifles are welcome. The only restrictions are maximum 30 caliber, maximum 30 lbs. weight, and no rail guns. Custom guns and factory guns will shoot in separate classes, and all classes will shoot from benches. Shooting starts at 9:00 am, but come early for sign-ups.

Custom rifles will shoot at 425 yards at a dozen 2.4″ clays, with 3 tie-breaker targets. There are unlimited sighter rounds and a 5-minute time limit. Factory guns will shoot at 200 yards at paintball targets with 3 tie-breakers. Again there are unlimited sighters and a 5-minute time limit during record fire. NOTE: Factory guns must be totally stock except trigger job, bedding, and muzzle brake.

The actual Egg Shoot is a separate part of the competition. You pick your best gun regardless of class. After a 5-minute warm-up, each shooter gets two (2) shots at one egg set at 500 yards. You can enter “as many times as your wallet permits — 2 shots for $2.00″. All shooters who hit an egg will go to a shoot-off for the final awards.

The Roanoke Egg Shoot is a great event that draws shooters from throughout Virginia and neighboring states. CLICK HERE to read Mark Schronce’s account of a recent Roanoke Egg Shoot where he and his wife competed head-to-head in a 500-yard shoot-off for top honors. For more information, call (540) 980-1582, or email: varmint [at] psknet.com.

CLICK HERE for INFO PAGE with Rules and Directions to the Roanoke Range.

Quality Used Benchrest Rifles at Shooter’s Corner

Want a great deal on a pre-owned precision rifle? Then visit Bob White’s Shooter’s Corner website and check out “The List”. Bob maintains a wide selection of used benchrest, varmint, and precision rifles. In fact, Bob offers the largest inventory of used benchrest rifles and equipment in the USA. Along with complete rifles, you’ll find accessories, rests, scopes, and reloading tools.

“The List” was updated this month, so you’ll find many new rifles listed. Contact Bob White directly for the latest offerings or ask for his personal “hand picks” from his vast inventory: (973) 663-5159; email: shootcnr [@] optonline.net. (Note: Bob just left today, April 30th, for a bencrest match, so call on Monday).

You can find exceptional deals on “The List”, with complete, custom-action BR rifles for as little as $1300.00, and varmint rifles starting at $500.00. Here are three examples:

Rifle B1: 6PPC Light Varmint, Farley Black Widow RB/LP action with right eject. Broughton barrel with .262 neck and less than 350 rounds. Terry Leonard redwood/carbon glue-in stock with removable buttstock weight. Smithed by Bob Brackney, this is a state-of-the-art gun in 99% condition. Super accurate and beautiful. Asking $2549 ($3200.00 invested).

Rifle B5: 6.5-284, 1000-yard Light Gun. Trued Rem short action with Hart 8-twist, 26” #7 taper bbl with Vais muzzle brake. Just 200 rounds through barrel. Shehane Tracker fiberglass stock with beautiful clearcoat and polished aluminum buttplate. Includes: Tooley +20 MOA scope base and custom 1″ scope rings. Smithed by Hart Rifle Barrels, this gun is in near-new condition. It has shot 2″ groups at 600 yards. Asking $2395. ($3000+ invested).

Varmint Rifle V16: 6mmBR Cooper Model 22 Montana Varminter. Factory 14-twist, 26” stainless barrel with just 500 rounds. Nicely figured walnut stock, factory 22 oz. trigger. Very near new. Desirable caliber in original box with all paperwork. Asking $1299.

Great Deals on Berger Bullets at MidwayUSA

Forum Member Boyd Allen discovered that MidwayUSA is offering great prices on some high-quality Berger Match bullets. MidwayUSA has 6mm Berger 68gr FB Match hollowpoints, product 584518, on sale for just $20.19 per hundred. These are outstanding bullets. I have personally witnessed seven successive 5-shot groups shot with these bullets (at 100 yards) from a 6PPC and the average group size was less than 0.180″. Six out of seven groups were under 0.200″. Will you get that kind of accuracy? We certainly won’t make any promises. But we were mightily impressed with the Berger 68s we tried… they shot every bit as well as more expensive “boutique” bullets in a Shilen-barreled 6PPC built by Ron Hoehn.

Midway is also discounting ($2.30 off retail) Berger’s 35gr FB 20-caliber varmint bullets, MidwayUSA item 584073. These bullets shoot great in .204 Ruger, 20 Vartarg, or 20-223 (aka 20 Practical) varmint rifles. They have very low recoil but expand explosively on small varmints. The current sale price, good through the end of May, 2009, is $20.19 per 100-count box.

SoCal Varmint Silhouette Match This Weekend

About 24 miles east of Oceanside, California (near the Camp Pendleton Marine base) is the Pala Reservation. On that Native American land you’ll find an impressive new Casino Resort & Spa, plus an excellent shooting range. The first Sunday of every month, many of Southern California’s top shooters come to Pala to enjoy a challenging Varmint Silhouette Match. Ten targets are set at each of the following distances:

200 meters – Field Mice (also called “pikas”)
300 meters – Crows (with a triangular center cut out, just for a little more challenge)
385 meters – California squirrels
500 meters – Jack Rabbits
600 yards – Prairie Dogs

There’s a North County Shootist Association Varmint Silhouette match this Sunday, May 3rd, and your Editor will be there covering the event. We invite AccurateShooter.com readers to come join the fun. You’ll need a very accurate rifle, and 80-100 rounds of ammo. You can shoot either rested prone (F-Class style), from bipod, or from a wooden bench with front pedestal and rear bag. Any rifle 6.5 caliber or under is allowed, with no weight restrictions. Muzzle brakes are permitted. There’s a one-hour sight-in period starting at 8 am, and the match starts at 9 am sharp. The folks at Pala run a tight ship, cycling multiple relays efficiently, so everybody gets to shoot 50 targets (10 each at five different yardages), and the show is usually completed by 1:00 pm. (Then if you want… head over to the Pala Casino for some gambling fun, or maybe a spa treatment.)

At Pala varmint shoots, max caliber is 6.5mm, to limit target damage. Typically you see a BR-style rifle, with a heavy, 26-30″ barrel, often using a muzzle brake. You need a very accurate chambering, so you’ll see 6BRs, Dashers, 6-284s, 6.5-47s, and a few 6mm Remingtons. (Note, the 6.5s are limited to 109gr max bullet weight to prevent target damage.) When this Editor last shot at Pala, Forum Member John Adams was kind enough to let me shoot his wicked little 22 Dasher. It proved very accurate, and very flat-shooting. I was impressed.

CLICK HERE for Match Info and Range Details

CLICK HERE to read a feature story on the Pala Varmint Silhouette Program

Shooting Sports USA Examines Shooters’ Vision

Shooting Sports USA is the NRA’s dedicated journal for competition shooters of all disciplines. Shooting Sports USA offers feature stories, news briefs, and a comprehensive schedule of events, organized by discipline. You can now read the latest May 2009 issue in digital format on the web–at no cost. In fact, online subscriptions are free. You can sign up to receive a reminder in your inbox every time a new issue is available.

This month’s cover story, “Winning Vision: A Guide for the Eye Care Professional,” is a must-read. It’s written by Dr. Norman H. Wong, O.D., a professional eye doctor and competitive shooter.

The article is written to help shooters and eye doctors find the best solutions for vision problems. We know many shooters, particularly as they hit “middle age” and beyond, experience a variety of vision issues. However, it’s common for shooters to ignore their eye problems, at the same time spending buckets of money on expensive optics. Pay attention to what Dr. Wong writes and you can benefit. Remember that the last element in the sighting system is the human eye — and no scope, no matter how sophisticated, can overcome serious failings in a shooters’ vision that remain uncorrected.

CLICK HERE for an archive of 24 more vision-related articles by Dr. Wong. Forum Member Jim Hardy comments: “[The] 24 articles by Dr. Norman Wong address many of the ocular issues confronting the competitive shooter. I downloaded all 55 pages and consider it mandatory reading for anyone associated with the shooting sports, whether you shoot iron sights or scope — handgun or rifle. The information is absolutely invaluable.

If you are not seeing your best, you cannot shoot your best. If you don’t know the questions to ask your eye professional, you are not likely to get the answers your need — starting with the selection of your eye care professional. The Rx that works for reading, work, and driving may not be close to what you need on the range. These articles will give you the basic education you need to address the vision issues in your shooting game.”

This item is provided courtesy the NRA Blog.

Robert Hoppe Wins 2009 NBRSA 600-Yard Nationals — Full Results Available

Taking first-place overall, Robert Hoppe was the big winner at the NBRSA 600-yard Nationals (Sloughhouse 600). Robert was shooting a 6mm Dasher (6BR Improved) with (reportedly) 103gr Spencer bullets. Robert had previously set a 600-yard small group record with his Dasher and 105 A-Max bullets. In the Interview below (from the 2008 Sloughhouse 600), Robert Hoppe gives tips on loading for the 6 Dasher:

Second Place overall went to Billy Copelin (also shooting Dashers in both Light Gun and Heavy Gun), and Third Place went to past 600-yard Champion Don Nielson (also shooting a Dasher in LG and HG). Don also won 12-Target Score. East-coaster Eric Stanton took 4th shooting a borrowed 6BR while Tommy Johnson rounded out the top five.

Overall Winner Robert Hoppe (holding plaque), with Match Director Craig St. Claire (far left).

CLICK HERE to download Complete NBRSA 600-Yard Nat’ls Match Results (MS Word file).

Though conditions were very difficult (shifty variable winds with horrendous mirage), Forum member Roger Amos set a new 3-target, Light Gun score record of 145-4X. Last Year’s NBRSA 600-yard Champ Jerry Tierney told us: “Conditions were really tough. Big changes in velocity and direction. You might get a good group but chances are it would not be centered. Mirage was bad. Many guys had trouble staying on paper when the conditions were the worst.” Despite the conditions, Tierney recorded the best Light Gun 6-Target Group Agg, an impressive 2.589″.

Lynn Dragoman provided this report, on Benchrest Central: “The shooting was very tough. We had plenty of switchy winds and so much mirage my 12-42 Nightforce never got off of 12 power. Lou Murdica lent Eric Stanton a 6BR [belonging to Connie, Lou's wife] with ammo Lou loaded up. Eric won a box of plaques and shot the smallest LG group of the match [1.407", (48-0X). Barry Bluhm, shooting a 6-6.5x47 had the Heavy Gun 10-shot small group, 2.513", (92-1X)]. Turnout was 50 shooters despite the depression we are seeing in the economy and a good time was had by all in attendance. It doesn’t get much better than three days shooting on the bench next to Lou Murdica, Don Nielson, and Eric Stanton. The new March 36-55X is a very nice scope. A big thank you goes out to our new Match Director Craig St. Claire. He ran it like a true pro. The scoring was done by Gary Childs and Jim O’Connell and the results were done before anybody had finished eating lunch.”

Many leading manufacturers supported the NBRSA Nationals/Sloughhouse 600 as sponsors. Bill Shehane of D&B Supply donated a very nice Tracker stock. Mac Tilton of MT Guns donated a $250.00 discount certificate for new Barnard action. Mac specified that this should go to one of the “non-podium” shooters, and Rick Duncan was the lucky fellow receiving the certificate. Other participating sponsors included: Bartlein Barrels, Cabela’s, Dewey Products, Forster Products, Russ Haydon, Krieger Barrels, Lee Reloading, MidwayUSA, Shilen Rifles, and Redding Reloading.

Photos by Barry Bluhm. Results provided by Jim O’Connell.

First 2010 SHOT Show Newsletter Offers Travel Info

The first edition of NSSF’s SHOT Show Blast for the 2010 show in Las Vegas is now online. Featured are details on the latest SHOT Show survey results, a look at the new venue for 2010 and information on how to make travel plans for the show.

NEW Location for Vegas SHOT Show
The 2010 SHOT Show will NOT be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center as in years past. For 2010, SHOT Show will be housed in the Sands Expo Center (MegaCenter), located next to the Venetian hotel on the Vegas Strip. The main entrance to the show is on Sands Ave., diagonally northeast of the Venetian.

It’s not too early to start planning for the show, which runs Jan 19-22, 2010. Blocks of rooms are already selling out at some hotels. While the Venetian/Palazzo is very, very expensive, just south of the MegaCenter are the Harrah’s Hotel/Casino, the Imperial Palace, and the Flamingo. Harrah’s is probably the best choice of the three, but rooms are selling quickly. There are still rooms available in the Imperial Palace for under $50.00 per night. However, this is an older hotel lacking the amenities of most modern Las Vegas hotels

To book rooms for the 2010 SHOT Show, you can log on to the SHOT Show Travel Desk. This travel service offers rooms in 19 major Las Vegas hotels, offering a “best rate pledge.” We found the SHOT Travel Desk rates to be good, but sometimes lower prices could be found on discount sites such as Hotels.com and Priceline.com. It pays to shop around.

ShootingUSA Television Visits CCI Rimfire Factory

Ever wondered how and where rimfire ammo is produced? The CCI plant in Lewiston, Idaho is the main production facility for CCI and Federal rimfire cartridges. This plant also produces Hornady-brand 17 Mach 2 and 17 HMR ammo. This week, ShootingUSA visits CCI’s Idaho ammo factory during the TV show’s “Sighting In” segment. ShootingUSA’s camera crew meets with production engineers and explores the many options available among .22 rimfire ammo. CCI’s Lewiston, Idaho plant produces four million rounds every day in a wide variety of velocities and bullet designs and weights.

Rick Stoeckel, CCI Ammunition Brand Manager, explains the many options offered in rimfire ammo: “The rimfire shooters today — they’re hunters, they’re plinkers, they’re target shooters. And varmint shooting is a big deal today.” CCI offers a variety of different options, Stoekel says, so “you can basically hunt, shoot targets, [do] everything with a rimfire gun.” Working with the ammo experts at CCI, during this week’s show, ShootingUSA tests various choices of .22 ammo for both accuracy and performance on game.

CLICK HERE For BALLISTICS INFO for all CCI Rimfire Ammunition.
(Once on this page, select “View Details” for the particular ammo type.)

Cowboy Action World Championships Coverage
During the same April 29th episode this week, ShootingUSA covers the 2008 “SASS End of Trail” — the World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting held at Founders Ranch outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. End of Trail has become a significant tourist event, drawing thousands of visitors from across the United States.

CLICK HERE to visit Single Action Shooting Society Website.

Photos courtesy ShootingUSA, © 2008, TIER ONE MEDIA, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Beyond the Bulletin — Check out our Forum and Articles

We’ve learned that many first-time visitors to AccurateShooter.com may come in via a link to the Daily Bulletin rather than through our home page. As a result, they may not be aware that there is a wealth of other content available to our readers. Our Shooters’ Forum, with nearly 8,000 registered members, is one of the best places on the web to discuss precision shooting and advanced reloading. We also offer FREE Forum Classifieds. On the editorial side, AccurateShooter.com offers hundreds of pages of content, with thousands of photos. Our Cartridge Guides are considered definitive sources of tech info for popular match calibers, and our Guns of the Week articles provide in-depth reports on outstanding custom rifles, most of which have competition pedigrees. In addition, we offer videos, gear reviews, book reviews, an event calendar, and even FREE downloadable targets.

If you’re a new visitor to AccurateShooter.com, you should check out all that we have to offer. There are hundreds of informative articles to read … and they’re all free.

AccurateShooter.com Features:

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NSSF Offers $250,000 to Clubs to Recruit and Retain Shooters

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is offering $250,000 in grant money for shooting ranges through NSSF’s 2009 Shooting Range Grant Program. The grant program is designed to help public and private shooting facilities jumpstart their recruitment and retention efforts. “The best way to increase participation is to enhance and promote shooting opportunities at the local level,” said Melissa Schilling, NSSF recruitment and retention manager. “We’re looking for unique proposals that move the needle on recruiting new shooters, attracting lapsed shooters back to the range and increasing opportunities for active shooters.” The projects will serve as pilot programs, which, if successful, can be used by other facilities across the country.

Project applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis in 2009, and the funded program must be completed by February 1, 2010. A total of $250,000 will be available through the program. Visit RangeInfo.org for program details. That site also includes profiles of successful 2008 grant projects.

CLICK HERE to Download 2009 Grant Application Form

The NSSF noted that this grant program is NOT intended for land purchases, for building or improving structures (such as club-houses), or for acquisition of range equipment and supplies. A winning grant proposal will focus on bringing new shooters to the sport and reviving the interest of shooters who are currently inactive. The NSSF also favors programs that will allow active shooters to try new disciplines. To learn more about program objectives and grant selection criteria, visit RangeInfo.org.

NSSF Gives $499,060 to States
In related news, the NSSF announced today it would donate nearly half a million dollars to nine states for the purpose of promoting hunting. In 2009, the NSSF Hunting Heritage program will allocate $499,060 to these state agencies: Arizona Game & Fish Department ($82,500), Colorado Div. of Wildlife ($22,000), Florida Div. of Hunting ($58,620), Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game ($73,500), Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources ($27,500), Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources ($66,200), Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife ($80,000), Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries ($78,500), Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources ($10,240). Since its inception seven years ago, NSSF’s Hunting Heritage Partnership program has contributed more than $3.3 million in support of projects managed by state natural resource agencies.

“Hunting faces challenges that are often state-specific, and these grants from the National Shooting Sports Foundation help make possible programs that state agencies might not otherwise be able to provide,” said Steve Sanetti, NSSF president and CEO. “This year’s recipients are right on target with initiatives addressing access issues and encouraging inactive hunters to go afield once again.”

Outstanding Range Box from MTM Case-Gard

A good range box is a truly essential piece of kit. Among the many range boxes available, the MTM model RBMC-11 Range Box leads the pack in terms of versatility. It is rugged, it has plenty of storage space, plus it doubles as a handy cleaning station. This Editor has used the MTM Range Box to clean rifles and as a “range expedient” rifle holder when adjusting scopes and tensioning action screws. It’s a good product that does the job.

Fitted Cleaning Cradles
The key feature setting the RBMC-11 apart from most range boxes is the rubber-coated cradle system. Wide enough to fit a 3″-wide fore-arm, the cradles slide into vertical slots on either end of the box. This allows your range box to serve as a stable maintenance station. The RBMC-11 is really pretty stable in this role, and the cradles won’t mark your stock. The cradles even feature slots on each side to hold your cleaning rods when not in use. The MTM Range Box is secure enough to stay in place when you’re brushing the barrel. However, if you’re working on a carpeted bench top, you may want to keep one hand on the box when running a cleaning rod through the bore, just to ensure the box doesn’t slide.

Versatile Upper Tray with Dividers
The MTM Range Box has two major components — the box base (with cradles), and a large upper tray with hinged top and carry handle. This large upper tray clamps securely to the bottom unit for transport. The top tray has a long section that holds cleaning rod guides, long brushes, grease syringes and the like. There are two, clear-plastic fitted divider trays. These will hold your patches and jags, plus comparators, ring wrenches, and other small tools.

What Might Be Improved
Though we really like the MTM Range Box, it’s not perfect. First, we wish the box was a bit deeper, to have added carrying capacity. The dimensions of the MTM Range Box are: 25″ long x 11.5″ wide x 8.75″ high. We’d like to see it 12″ high/deep to allow larger solvent bottles to stand upright and to provide more space to carry tools and shooting muffs. However, it is deep enough to hold the large 100-round MTM cartridge boxes that are popular with many shooters (see photo at right).

The cradles are very nicely designed, and will hold your rifle securely without marking the stock. However, we’ve found that sometimes the rear cradle grips the gun so well that the cradle slides out as you lift the gun up. This is not a big deal, but it does demand a little extra attention when you’ve finished cleaning. We really like the twin clear plastic dividers that fit into the large removeable top-tray, but we wish the dividers had individual hinged tops. This would keep patches and small parts more secure.

The MTM Range Box costs about $50.00 at most vendors. CLICK THIS LINK to order from Amazon.com for $48.95: MTM® Shooting Range Box.

(FYI, Amazon.com rebates a portion of the purchase price from each sale to AccurateShooter.com. This helps support this website.)

Zeiss Conquest Refurbs on Sale at MidwayUSA

If you’re looking for a 1″-diameter scope for hunting, varminting, or general paper-punching, Zeiss makes some of the best available. The less expensive Conquest line of riflescopes have impressed us with their very clear, sharp glass, and excellent controls. Unfortunately, Zeiss Conquest prices have climbed in recent years. For example, the excellent Conquest 6-20×50mm retails for nearly $200 more than it did originally.

You can’t go back in time, but MidwayUSA is offering refurbished Zeiss Conquest scopes at big savings off regular prices. These scopes all feature etched reticles and rugged 1-piece main body tubes. Here are some of the deals currently offered on Zeiss “Certified Refurbished” scopes (with full factory warranties):

Zeiss MC Conquest 3-9×50mm, Matte, Z-Plex Reticle
Product #: 151785 | Price: $479.99 Sale ($120.00 off retail)

Zeiss MC Conquest 3.5-10×50mm, Matte, Rapid Z-600 Reticle
Product #: 714963 | Price: $659.99 Sale ($165.00 off retail)

Zeiss MC Conquest 4.5-14×44mm Side Focus, Matte, Z-Plex Reticle
Product #: 993333 | Price $639.99 Sale ($160.00 off retail)

Zeiss MC Conquest 6.5-20×50mm, Matte, Side Focus, Target Turrets, Z-Plex Reticle
Product #: 145597 | Price: $799.99 Sale ($200.00 off retail)

NOTE: Certified Refurbished Zeiss MC Conquest Rifle Scopes may have ring marks or small scratches on the body, but none of these slight blemishes will affect the function of the scope. Zeiss Conquest Rifle Scopes are covered by the Zeiss Limited Lifetime Warranty. Quantities are extremely limited.